CSWE Full Circle January 2014

Volume 2014, Issue 1

Child Maltreatment 2012 Reports Decrease in Child Abuse

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF) released Child Maltreatment 2012, the 23rd in a series of reports designed to provide state-level data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS). Child Maltreatment 2012 includes information on reports of abuse and neglect made to child protective services (CPS) agencies, the children involved, types of maltreatment, CPS responses, child and caregiver risk factors, services, and perpetrators as well as national data about child abuse and neglect known to child protective services agencies in the United States during federal the fiscal year of 2012.

The 2012 report shows a decrease in the number of children suffering abuse, neglect, and maltreatment nationwide for the sixth consecutive year. The national estimate of unique victims for Federal fiscal year (FFY) 2012 was 686,000, compared to 723,000 in FFY 2007. Whereas the number of abuse victims decreased, the number of fatalities attributed to child abuse and neglect seems to have increased, from 1,580 in 2011 to 1,640 in 2012. The Child Maltreatment reports are available on the Children’s Bureau website.